Help: organising my first crit

Simon Brooke wrote:


So:
I've got to organise marshals, publicity, barrier moving crew, road
signage, leafleting residents, prizes (including primes), changing
rooms, first aid...

What else do I need to organise?

Does anyone with experience of organising crits have a check-list? Would
anyone in the UK with experience of running crits give me some by-email
advice?

dumbass,

congratulations on hosting your own event!

most people have covered the usual topics. one thing i can add to that
is to look for a good paramedic, if possible one knows about bike
races. a good medic will save you a lot of stress when there is a
mishap.

but i think you also need to consider a few less obvious but very
critical items.

unless this is going to be a one-off event you need to pave the way for
future events. most races only benefit the riders. you have to give the
town some incentive to tolerate the inconvenience your event creates.

-you can raise money or awareness for some cause
-community involvement: you can have a fun ride and kids races, this is
very easy to do.
-perhaps the race itself is an attraction (an ideal scenario), and it
may be part of a larger event. in that case you will need a PA and
stage to properly present the riders and work the crowd.

if your race delivers something to the town, you will foster goodwill
and the town will have a reason to have you back or host another bike
race in the future.

Simon Brooke wrote in news:8nbvn3-fa4.ln1
@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk:

snip

This one is so obvious I am shocked nobody here has suggested it. Podium
babes. You need to line them up ahead of time, preferably holding the
interviews in a motel room right off a major highway. You don't want to
be caught with your pants down, so to speak, on race day and have to
settle for women you pull at random out of the crowd.

--
Bill Asher

in message .com,
') wrote:

most people have covered the usual topics. one thing i can add to that
is to look for a good paramedic, if possible one knows about bike
races. a good medic will save you a lot of stress when there is a
mishap.

Trouble is, he crashed out of my last event with a broken arm...
http://www.stewartry-wheelers.org/wh...rticle_83.html
but I'll ask him!

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.

in message .com,
') wrote:

unless this is going to be a one-off event you need to pave the way for
future events. most races only benefit the riders. you have to give the
town some incentive to tolerate the inconvenience your event creates.

Kind of isn't a problem in this case. The Tour of Britain is coming
through the town two days after, and the initiative for getting this
happening is that the tourism people in the council, and the local
festivities committee, came to us and said 'how do we extend the stay in
the town of visitors who've come to see the Tour?'. So, although we
wanted to run a crit and had asked for permission unsuccessfully before,
this time we've been invited. But I hope to make it an annual event, so
I shall work on making the town feel that they got a spectacle that was
worth the disruption!

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Das Internet is nicht fuer gefingerclicken und giffengrabben... Ist
nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen. Das mausklicken sichtseeren
keepen das bandwit-spewin hans in das pockets muss; relaxen und
watchen das cursorblinken. -- quoted from the jargon file

in message , Simon
Brooke ') wrote:

We (my club) has been negotiating with our local council and our local
police to get permission to run a criterium in Kirkcudbright (a local
town) for several months. Now, at last, all the official permission
seems to be in place and we've got to go for it. The date is 27th
August - to coincide with local festivities and two days before the
Tour of Britain comes through the town - so we've very little time.

[snip]

Many thanks to everyone who responded to this thread, both on the group
and by email. Most useful and helpful. I'll let you know how I get on.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Anagram: I'm soon broke.